Loud House: New World Crisis

by Lord-Zer0

AU to 'Not a Loud', 9 years into the future, Lincoln and Lucy try to find their way back home to their family after the world changing events of an advanced scientific terrorist organization 'HD' separates the two Louds. – Rated M for adult content (First fic to be posted, PM for honest critique)

6. Chapter 5

[First let me say I am sorry it's come out this late, something unexpected went down and deleted just about all my pre-written work for this and a few later chapters. More at the bottom]

[In advanced I want to say back in the beginning when I said I don't like using OC's, it wasn't because I hate them but my imagination isn't quite at the level to create new characters on the fly and be done with them when I have no more use for them, that's why I pull from other sources like games and comics - mind you when I said this fanfic would involve characters from marvel and dc etc, I'm not bringing the world of the loud house into marvel and dc or vice versa, it's more like cameos, so I butcher the lore in order to fit my world while creating an original story that blends lots of sources and I hope not a lot of people hate it]

[Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or anything really, if I did then I'd consider myself successful]

Posted 12/10/19

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-Chapter 5-

-Kent House-

-Morning-

Within the house near the barn resides the Kent family, in the dining room sits an older man with greying hair, Jonathan Kent, in a rolled up white shirt and jeans he reads a book while waiting for breakfast.

Currently on the stove is Jonathan's wife Martha making eggs, bacon and pancakes, typical breakfast for a typical morning. She has light brown hair with streaks of grey running across and is in a pink blouse and jeans.

The sound of footsteps can be heard coming down the stairs as a tall young adult male with black hair and blue eyes makes his way over to Martha and gives her a peck on the cheek. He's wearing an open red flannel over a blue t-shirt and jeans (a running theme here on the farm).

"Morning ma, oh that smells great!" He tells her.

"Good morning Clark." Martha greets her son with her usual cheerfulness as her husband speaks up.

"Good to see you up son," He takes a moment to look over to his son and sees no one else, "Where's the rest?" He asks.

"Karen's up and in the shower, Conner's uh-" He pauses.

"Right here." Came a disinterested voice followed by a young man in a black shirt and jeans who looks remarkably like Clark but there were noticeable bags under his eyes and he lets out big yawn.

"Didn't get enough sleep son?" Asked Pa Kent as Conner grunts and Clark gets a look at him, "Or maybe you were in them fight pits again." Jonathan says sternly.

Conner says, "I don't know what-"

"You weren't in bed last night or in the barn, you're tired and your knuckles have bruises." Mr. Kent deduces.

Clark glares towards Conner before asking, "I thought we told you to stop going there-" He's cutoff as Conner speaks up.

"And I thought I told you I don't care, you don't tell me what to do!" He shouts.

"Boy, just because you can keep up with the rest of them doesn't mean you should be going down there." His father tells him.

"Keep up, I'm the one they should be afraid of, I rule down there!" Conner says as his mother begins.

"Hun, we're just worried about you-"

"Well don't, I can take care of myself down there-" Conner says until he's stopped by another voice.

"At least until someone bigger and stronger shows up and wipes the floor with you cuz'." Came the irritated voice of a woman about Clarks age, she has blonde hair in a bob-cut that reaches her neck, she's in a white tank top that can barely hold her large bust with a red towel draped over her left shoulder and jeans.

Conner just scoffs and walk away.

"Hey Karen." Came the voice of her cousin Clark.

"Hey Clark, hells up with your brother this time?" She asks rather annoyed knowing this isn't the first time he's been caught going to the fight pits.

"Language young lady!" Spoke Ma Kent.

"Sorry Ma" Karen apologizes to her aunt, "Hey Pa," She addresses her uncle.

"Mornin' Karen, how'd you sleep?" Asked her uncle.

"Like a log."

"Good, now where's your sister, usually she's the first one up." Pa Kent wonders.

"That's a good question, Clark, you seen Kara?" Karen asks.

"Nope, was just wondering that myself, truck still out there, you don't think she…" He leaves that thought open as Karen let's out a sigh.

"Of course she's up in the clouds again." Karen speaks in frustration but then her aunt Martha gives her two cents.

"Well you know a girl's gotta fly." And then Karen talks again.

"That's what mom used to say until…" Karen notices her aunt's disheartened expression, *Sigh*, "I'm sorry Ma."

"Don't be dear, Carol 'rest her soul' was a pilot and your mother, I know you didn't get a lot of time with her and Kara even less but somehow those two are a lot more alike than I'm comfortable with, I'm sure it must be hard knowing your sister can just take off and come back lord knows when. Just try to be more understanding, she's at that age where she wants to explore what's out there just like Conner."

"At least she doesn't act like Conner." Clark points out as Karen mutters something.

"Thank Christ for small miracles," She says under her breath, "Seriously what's up with him, really?"

Pa Kent answers her, "He's just being a teenager, hard-headed, stubborn and full of emotions he don't understand or wants to talk about. He feels trapped on a barn that's trapped in a small town that's trapped behind walls in a state that's trapped behind an even bigger wall. So yeah, he's a bit rebellious but you both were at that age too." He says to the aghast of his son and niece.

"No way/ Nope!" Were the reactions of Clark and Karen.

"You can't be serious Dad, was I as bad as Conner?" Clark asked as his mother responds.

"Oh heavens no, you were much worse." She says chuckling as her husband nods in her favor.

"For real?" Karen asks, she's never seen Clark have so much as a temper tantrum or anything close to a disrespectful disposition aimed at anybody, the complete opposite of his brother.

Pa Kent continues, "That's right, while my boy didn't throw any punches or go to them drinking parties, he was still a teenager and he was more concerned with ladies than we liked him to be, ain't that right darlin'?" He asks much to Clark's embarrassment and Karen's amusement.

"Oh yes, before those walls came up, we were worried Clark would make us grandkids when he was still in school, I'm just glad we gave him the talk." Her husband picks up on that.

"And thank god for that, he must've spent his allowances on protection nearly every week." Then in the midst of their laughter, Clark buts in.

"Oh come on, name one-" He didn't even get to finish that thought.

"Alicia Baker" Martha named.

"Chloe Sullivan" Jonathan gave another.

"Lana Lang"

"Lois Lane Before she left, just to name a few." Jonathan finished.

Much to the ire of Clark, he couldn't retort or find something to argue so he just left it at that. Alicia was a good friend and sort of a whirlwind romance that lasted only so long, 'God, she was wild'.

Chloe was a childhood friend with an enormous crush on him, they're off and on from time to time, 'We were together just a few nights ago too'.

Lana Lang, childhood sweethearts those two were, on occasion they have intense but brief hookups, 'I think she just broke up with Whitney again'.

Finally Lois, she's something like Karen, an army brat that moved from place to place, while she was around Clark couldn't help but follow her lead, 'There were no limits with her', but after the walls came up no word from one another.

Clark snaps out of his remembrance to the sound of Karen's laughter, then his mother speaks up.

"Don't think we forgot about you dear," Karen immediately goes silent and a look of fright replaces the glee she endorsed in Clark's shortcomings. "Sure your mother wasn't around all that much but when she was, she knew what went on in her house or even found evidence of 'What Happened' through her security system." Karen goes stiff as Clark leans in, eager to hear what his cousin has done.

"Let's see, when Kara was with your father, you had drinking parties and there was that org-" Martha is cutoff by Karen's pleading.

"Okay, okay I get it, please just no more Ma." Karen begs and Martha begins again.

"So maybe you can be a bit more forgiving towards your siblings, you're each what 23, Conner's 15 and Kara just turned 18, it's only natural that they're so riled up, that they'd want to meet someone, go somewhere and do something. No one wants to be cooped up here, soon enough they'll meet someone special and-" Her husband steps in.

"Okay Hun, I think that's enough, you're scaring them with your talk about the future."

And with that they feel some kind of force drop behind the house, a familiar feeling indicating you-know-who just showed up.

"And speaking of Kara." Karen said dejectedly as the back door flew open and a young woman floats in.

She has long blonde hair, is in a white t-shirt and overall jean-shorts.

"Guysyouwon'tbelievewhatIjustsaw!" Kara sped through her words without so much as a breath.

"Whoa slow down baby sis, what happened?" Karen asked, worried what has her sister spooked.

Kara took a breather as she got her family's attention.

"Okay, so I was over the wall, y'know the one you and Clark helped make," *"You were where?"* "Eep!" Kara flinched at the familiar, angsty voice of cousin Conner.

Conner stormed back into the kitchen and continued pressing Kara, "Where were you?"

Karen stops him, "Enough Conner, Kara keep going." And she would have, had Conner stopped talking.

"You stay out of it, the way I see it, I'm gone for the night, everyone's got something to say, she can fly over that damn wall and no one even bats an eye!" Conner seems to be boiling over, it's nothing new for the Kent family but this is really starting to get on everyone's nerves.

"At least she doesn't come home covered in bruises." Karen retorts.

"Oh fuck off!" An apt response from a 15 year old who's brain is just swimming in testosterone.

"Language, Conner!" Martha can tolerate a lot of unsavory things in her home but vile language is not one of them.

And thus chaos ensues as Conner, Karen, Kara, Jonathan and Martha engage in a shouting match until the normally mild mannered Clark Kent had it and stomps his foot.

"ENOUGH!" He roared as the house rocks for a bit and then settles.

Conner glared at his older brother but one look from Clark shuts down any fight in him.

No one said anything, a rare moment for Clark to let loose any noticeable anger but as of Late, Conner's been testing the Limits of his brother's restraint. As much as Conner can talk a big game, Clark is the real beast between the two.

*INHALE* *EXHALE* "Kara would you please tell us why you went over the wall, you know what those things would do to you if they got a hold of you." He tells in the calmest tone he can muster and everyone let's out a breath they didn't know they were holding onto.

Jonathan went back to reading his book as the young ones took their seats and Martha begins passing out breakfast.

Kara begins telling them that she woke up floating over her bed, a regular occurrence as of late. It was dawn when she wanted to 'stretch her wings' and so she casually flies up to The Cloud (or as close as she could get) when something caught her attention, out of the corner of her eye she saw something move and she turned to see she was already past the wall.

She briefly paused her story to hear her family lecture her on how irresponsible and scatterbrained she was to just fly past the barricade.

Kara then continues that out of fear she hides behind a building but then spies two blurs just walking, Karen asks if was one of those deathclaws, Kara shook her head in objection and against her better judgment, 'not that she had any good judgment' snided Conner only to be leered at by his brother and cousins but he just ignores them. Kara goes on to say that she flew behind the ruined buildings to see two people and a cat just walking down without so much as a care.

Conner asks if they might be raiders while Clark is curious as to why the two were even traveling there in the first place.

The barricade was erected because of a large group of deathclaws and mutated animals were tearing their way through El Paso and the people there had the idea to evacuate down the Kent's way which is how they found out. Armed forces along with the combined efforts of Clark, Conner and Karen pushed back the band of deathclaws and took down a couple before stacking a bunch of vehicles at least a meter high.

Though it wouldn't be enough to keep that giant green one back, the wall of cars would be enough for anything smaller than those deathclaws and would give the Kents breathing room. Surprisingly even with that threat looming over them they refused to abandon their home.

Kara gets back to her story, she didn't want to press her luck not running into any deathclaws at the moment and so she flies back home but in trying to rush back she completely forgot about stealth and was spotted by the male and she couldn't help but pause to get a better look at him much to the disappointment of her sister for even stopping but what caught everyone's attention was her description of the two.

Though she didn't get a good look at the woman, Kara noted that she was deathly pale and had black hair. The man she got a good look at especially when he looked right at her, he was tall tanned, strong build, had white hair, armed and was handsome, she let that last one slip out as Karen and Martha raised a brow and smirked in a teasing motion as Conner asks Kara to get back to her findings.

Kara noted that the man had glowing yellow eyes and that she flew back home to tell them what happened.

-XxX-

Breakfast passed and after briefly tending to the fields, Jonathan and Clark came back to the house to see Conner arguing with Karen over who knows what this time.

The two Kent men see Conner storm out of the house and Karen going upstairs until Jonathan calls out to her.

"What happened this time?" Clark asks as Karen huffs.

"He's really pushing it, stomping around like he owns the place and tells me I can't leave like he's gonna do something." She looks at her uncle, "I know you and Ma said he's just being a teenager but if tries any of that shit on me again it lights out for him!"

As she makes her declaration her fist begins to glow with a vibrant yellow aura.

Karen takes a breath as the glow dies down and she sighs.

"I'm taking Ma and Kara into town." She tells the boys as she makes her way to the keys on the table.

"Everything alright with you three?" Says Jonathan, curious about half of his family leaving at the moment.

"Yeah, just picking up a few things, that and we're kind of running low on some… products." Karen replies.

"Products?" Clark asks as his father places a hand on his shoulder.

"Lady stuff son." Jonathan says a matter-of-factly.

Clarks eyes widen a smidge in embarrassment over something personal yet obvious and in an ironic manner for someone his age is a bit flustered for having an adult female problem explained to him like he was a child again.

"Ah, well, a-alright then." He stutters a little and tries to be the gentleman his parents raised, "You three need a lift?"

Karen can only laugh at her cousin's failure to be casual, "I think… the three of us… can manage." She tells him in between her laughs, but then it dies down, "But if you want to help maybe you can get 'Mr. ~Everyone should be afraid of me'~ off our backs."

At this point Jonathan lets out a sigh, he knew dealing with four kids would be a hassle but four Mutants, one of which is still a teenager in his rebellious phase.

"That boy, I swear one of these days he's gonna say the wrong thing to the wrong person and find himself digging up his own grave-" He stops as Karen speaks up.

"Uh, that day might be today Pa!" She says pointing at a window.

"Wha-"

*BOOM*

A shockwave rocks the Kent house for the second time today. The three looks outside to see what happened, Martha rushes out from the kitchen as Kara flies out from her room and sees her family rushing out side.

-Conner-

-Earlier-

Conner was making his way through the fields to try and vent if only to get away from Karen, she was pissing him off way too much.

"There could be two Raiders coming our way and that bitch really just wants to head into town like she heard nothing!" He silently screams to himself, "Am I the only one taking this seriously!?"

He takes a moment to breathe as he hears a crunching sound a ways from the farm and spies two people and a cat, all walking towards his home.

Conner tries to keep himself hidden and get a better look at his 'guests'.

His eyes narrow as he sees the exact people Kara was talking about.

They guy, 'He's not so tall' he pouts and thinks to himself most likely in jealousy, 'Yep he's got to be a mutant, hair alone is a dead giveaway and those shades gotta be for his eyes.' Conner concludes.

Upon the next inspection he can tell Kara was right, he's a bit on the muscular side and he's armed to the teeth, 'Sheesh someone's overcompensating', yeah this guys is a threat but nothing he can't handle himself.

His eyes focus on the second person and his eyes widen and he looks away for a split second. That ominous black hair covering her face and skin white as bone, 'Man that is cree-' he pauses as his eyes travel downwards towards her chest, '… she's gonna give Karen a run for her money.'

His mind continues to drift only to be brought back to reality when a voice breaks the hypnotic trance the woman had over him.

"Excuse me young man, if you're not too busy staring off into space do you think you could help us?" It sounded more like a playful jab than a question but that was all it took to set Conner off (go figure).

Conner let's out a bit of a growl.

"… Okay, well I don't know who peed in your cereal today but perhaps I should just introduce us, I'm Lin-" He's cutoff as Conner snarled.

"I… don't care!" Conner tried to sound intimidating and failing as the man in front of him speaks again.

"Oh, so he does speak, you hear that Luce." Conner looks at the woman briefly and her mouth (the only visible part of her face) doesn't so much as twitch, giving no indication that she even acknowledged the man. "But for real, is there an adult I can talk to, preferably one with manners, you know someone like that kid?"

Now this asshole was just asking for it, Conner was already steaming from Karen and now some chump from butt-fucking nowhere wants to go, this is just what the doctor ordered, Conner was just waiting for an opening.

"…" No one said anything as Conner just glared at the guy and bared his teeth like some kind of animal.

"… Jeez Luce, you think this one's broken or something?" the guy asks as he turned his head toward his female companion and that's when Conner struck, he threw out a right hook to the back of the man's head.

In waiting for the inevitable collision, Conner had for just a moment blinked and when he opened them he saw the man was gone and his fist met with the air and suddenly a voice came from behind.

"Y'know that's not very nice, *"Ahh"* striking a man with his back turned, I've met raiders more honorable than that, boy." The man's voice sent a chill down Conner's spine.

Conner turned and saw the man was behind him, this time Conner was paying attention to his voice, it was husky but not nasally, thick but not gravelly, it was deep but not loud, the kind of voice that carries over a crowd and doesn't need to yell to silence a room, it channeled the kind of authority that teachers wish they had.

Conner ignored this unusual sense of dread that was lingering around him.

"Get the FUCK off my property!" Conner yelled trying to work up his anger and shake off the panic from earlier.

The man is unfazed as he just rolls his eyes (not that Conner would know) and takes a step forward, this put Conner on edge and puts his fists up, then the man speaks again.

"Okay look, we're not here to fight, we're just looking for directions to the nearest town or the closest thing to one, so if you can show us the way, we'll be out of your hair sooner, which I'm sure is better for you, I mean seriously you look like you got off the wrong side of the bed this morning, so… help a guy out?"

As much as the man was trying to be 'reasonable' Conner really can't take his teasing and starts huffing and getting red.

"Aaand, that's what I'm talking about, look kid I don't start fights with 9 year olds so can the attitude and just tell me what I need to know and I'm gone okay?" The man's playful tone leaving and replaced with something irksome.

With that Conner let's out a yell and charges at the man with a violent right straight punch.

*BOOM*

The impact kicks up dirt and the ground around them rumbles as Conner looks to see his punch easily caught in the stranger's left hand.

"Y'know, I really don't make it my business to kick the crap out of defenseless little shits but you're starting to piss me off and that's a different story, and seeing as you're a big strong mutant I guess I really shouldn't feel bad about this now." The man voiced is fixed with a dark grin that promised never ending pain.

Fear takes hold of Conner as he tries to pull back his arm just fell the man's vice grip on his fist tighten. The stranger adds more pressure that's followed by a few pops as Conner voices a strained gasp and falls to his knees.

In an urgent and desperate attempt to free himself, Conner foolishly tries to grab onto the man's left arm with his free hand only for the man to catch Conner's wrist and squeeze down hard.

Conner yells out in pain as the strain on his knuckles and wrists are getting to him and they even feel like they're catching fire.

"CONNER!" Came the voice of Jonathan the Kent family patriarch.

Conner and his 'assailants' turn to see the mixed reactions of the Kent family ranging from sheer anger to a bit of shock and fear.

Clark stomps over to the three in a sprint only to run smack-first into an invisible wall.

Conner looks over to his brother who is straight up punching the wall and see the ground around him is giving way to the tremors caused by Clark.

He then looks over to the man who gave the woman a look and she nodded, she raised he hand and Clark was raised off the ground away from the rest of his family.

Conner was even more shocked and frightened by just who he was dealing with. He suddenly felt the man's grip on his arms leave and pulls himself away just to see said man walk towards his family and panics.

Conner rushed to the man only to hear an unusual voice send chills down his spine.

"STOP"

It was monotonous and feminine, it lacked any emotion but was filled with authority, barely a whisper but more than enough for Conner to guess who said it.

With that Conner fell to his knees and as much as he tried to resist, a relaxing sensation took hold of him as his mind went quiet and his eyes dilated.

-The Kents-

Fear held most of the family, seeing their youngest at the mercy of two strangers and one of them kept Clark out of their reach as the other one made his way towards the rest of them.

Kara was taught to stay away from situations like this but she couldn't so much as lift off the ground left alone mover her legs, she was firmly planted, 'Oh god what's happening?!' she yells to herself.

Karen has never seen this before, well two mutants were nothing new but just one of them handling Conner like he really was just a normal child was a rarity, she'd never say it out loud but Conner was a force to be reckoned with, he still had nothing on her and Clark but Conner's definitely no pushover.

'Who the fuck are these people' Karen thought to herself as she looked over to Clark, and there was this chick, creepy as hell but fuck it all if what's-her-face didn't make Karen want to run. She just yanked Clark nearly 10 feet of the ground and then Karen looks back to her baby sister, 'Why isn't she leaving?' She almost screams out loud as she looks menacingly towards the man approaching them.

Jonathan and Martha have seen drifters and raiders come to their farm a few times in fact Jonathan was shot in the leg by one before Clark got his hands on the guy but right now she was terrified beyond anything, their boys were taken out of the fight before it 'began' Martha can only imagine how Jonathan was keeping himself together so well.

Meanwhile Jonathan could barely move but he knew he couldn't run, his only option was to reason with this boy and hope they could talk it out and before he knew it he was already face to face with one of the mutants that is probably just as strong as his oldest.

As the man was about to speak, two golden beams came bursting from the hands of Karen, one made its way to the man in front of her uncle and the other to the wannabe Morticia Addams.

The first beam met its target and surprise surprise, the second came close to the bitch who put her cousin under her hypnotic vampire spell but another invisible wall had blocked the blast, splitting it in four different streams.

Karen tenses up and looks back towards her uncle while attempting to call him over but is stunned to see the man who she knows got blasted standing his ground.

She kept pouring more into her beam but he wasn't moving instead it feels like, 'Shit it's not hitting him, he's soaking it up like a sponge!' She thinks as terror and panic began taking hold.

Karen takes a look at the man as she stopped blasting. The bright yellow beams that were fired at him looked like they were being pulled into the palm of his right hand, burning away his glove and singing his sleeve past his wrist.

The Kents shrink a bit as they feel a tightening around their throats and look onto the woman who has her right arm stretched out towards them as her left was aimed at Clark.

They began to fear the worst before they saw the man turn to his companion and signaled her with a hand to stop and so she does. The pressure around the Kents was alleviated as they saw Clark being lowered down gently.

The man speaks to them, "Now that was just excessive." He looks at his arm and sighs, "See this is why we can't have nice things, Luce!" With that he addresses the Kents.

"So I know this looks bad but would you believe me if I said that young man started it?" He asked as he pointed to Conner who was still in a trance.

At this point the entirety of the Kent family dropped their despondent aura, went stoned-faced and each glared at Conner.

Martha just sighed.

"…Yeah." Came the dejected voices of Jonathan and Clark as they look down.

"Of-Fucking-Corse!" Karen yelled out in a hoarse manner while pinching the bridge between her eyes.

Kara shrugged her shoulders, raised her arms and quickly nodded in a way that just said 'yep'.

"Oh… well good." Said the man, "I was beginning to think I set him off by introducing ourselves, then he just sort of growled at me like some kind of animal, is that normal for you guys?" He asked.

Kara answered him, "Yeah kinda, I'm Kara by the way." She slowly waved over.

"Oh hey, I remember you, you're that flying girl I saw earlier." Then he removed his lone glove.

His face sprang a surprised look, "But where are my manners, I'm Lincoln and that wolf in sheep's clothing is Lucy." He takes a moment to study Kara's face as she raised an eyebrow, "No really, she may look all sunshine and rainbows but don't let that fool you, underneath is a cold engine of darkness and logic." He says sporting a dumb crooked grin.

"As much, *Ahh* as I appreciate your ingratiating complements Lincoln, I don't think they know you're trying to break the ice with a joke. Plus it wasn't funny." Lincoln fake gasps as he puts a hand on his chest for drama.

"You take that back, I'm hilarious. But seriously we need so-" He pauses as he looks to the family minus the 'tripped out' angry one to see they are trying to regain their breathing. "You guys okay?" He asks.

In between the heavy and erratic deep breathes the tall man steps up to Lincoln and Begins.

"Yeah, yeah, just uhh, where'd she- I mean she just-"

"She came out of nowhere." Lincoln finishes as the guy nods, "Yeah don't worry, she does that all the time, you just learn to get used to it and eventually you adapt, that is if the rampant heart attacks don't get you first." Lincoln says with a bit of a bluntness aimed at Lucy as she gives a sliver of a smile. "But seriously, you gotta stop that Luce."

"Where is the fun in that, unscheduled surprises like mine are but passing thunderbolts, they rarely harm anyone and each passing threat helps you keep an eye out for the unexpected and to be grateful for the life you still have."

"… Uh right, anyway," Lincoln turns to the family of five (six) and sees them rally themselves, he takes a moment to get a good look at them.

The two oldest Lincoln could only assume were the parents, the husband stood at maybe 5'11" and the wife at 5'8". Lincoln is good at guessing height and sizes (the benefits of helping his fashion designer for a sister).

The man he was just talking to was about 6'2" and had a rather large frame, broader than Lincoln's own.

Kara, the girl who introduced herself was roughly the same height as Lucy and though he wasn't an expert on this sort of thing, at first glance her chest seemed to be a C, maybe.

The last girl, the one who shot an energy beam at him and Lucy 'better watch out for her' stood roughly the same height as the dark haired guy. Even from far away he could tell she was… well-proportioned and just about tied with Lucy in bra size 'if she's even wearing one' maybe a bit bigger.

Lincoln collects himself as he resumes talking, "We were really hoping for directions-" He is interrupted by the Kent patriarch.

"Say no more, we were just about to go into town ourselves but first do you think you could uhh…" he leaves it at a lull as he gestures to his prone son still on his knees.

"Oh yeah sure, he'll snap out of it in a second, right Luce?" Lincoln asks as she nods, "So uh sorry about that over there."

"Nonsense, my boy can be… a handful, I apologize for that, Kent, Jonathan Kent." He says as he holds his hand out.

Lincoln takes it and gives him a firm handshake as Jonathan introduces the rest of his family.

"There's my lovely wife Martha." She waves, "My oldest Clark," He nods, "And the girls, Kara as you already know and-" He's cut off by the older one as she makes her way towards Lincoln.

"Karen, nice to meet you" She introduces herself as she takes Lincoln's hand and gives it a firm shake.

Lincoln can tell she's using quite a bit of force as he looks her in the eyes and sees her unwilling to break 'eye' contact, he just raises a brow.

'Oh my god,' Karen starts talking, "Huh, so uh sorry about that bit with the light show and your jacket."

"It's fine, you go through quite a bit wear and tear when you run into mutants every now and again, water under the bridge." Lincoln told her with a smile and that reassures the Kents.

As the two were about to continue everyone heard a grunting as they all turned to Conner who was coming to and his eyes snapped open.

"You bastard, get away from them!" He roared as he begins charging at Lincoln in spite of his family shouting at him to stop.

"Conner no!" The Kent Matriarch yells.

Just a few feet away from Lincoln and his shadow grows darker and stretches forward and shooting tar-black spikes just inches away from Conner's neck and chest, just like that everyone stopped.

Whatever anger Conner had mustered up vanished with the threat of impalement now at his feet, he could hear the edges singing as the wind brushes the bladed stakes.

"Salem, come out now." Came the quiet and commanding voice of Lucy, like a witch beckoning her furry familiar.

The spikes retracted from Conner and receded into Lincoln's shadow and out popped a mass of shadow that reformed into a cat as it hisses at Conner.

"Our apologies, she's usually not this aggressive, this is Salem." Said Lucy as she brought out her arms for Salem to leap into and purring as Lucy stroked her fur.

For a moment no one said anything after just being reminded whom they were dealing with, until Jonathan spoke up, "That's quite alright, my thanks for no hurting my boy, he really needs to learn when enough is enough."

There was a pregnant pause as the Kents were expecting some sort of rude retort from Conner only to be surprised by his silence, perhaps he is in shock. Lincoln decides to break this tension.

"Y'know I knew you were all related when I first saw you," Everyone turned to Lincoln, "I noticed some familiar 'jeans' run in the family, heh get it." He flashed a toothy grin.

*Snkt* Everyone turned to Kara as she turned away, "Sorry, it was too quiet and that was just so dumb," and like that Kara and Lincoln shared a laugh as Lucy looks away and sighs.

-XxX-

After a bit of a tongue lashing from his parents and brother, Conner just kept silent, glared at Lincoln and on occasion snuck glances at Lucy.

Lincoln and Lucy learned it was close to noon when they arrived at the Kent home.

Both as an apology for the trouble with Conner and to show the… three into town, Jonathan offered a ride there. Lincoln looked to Lucy for a moment and after, they both agreed.

Currently the party of nine got into the pickup truck. Jonathan was driving, Martha in the passenger's seat, in the back Karen taking the left window seat, Clark in the middle separating Karen from Conner who got the other window seat.

Sitting in the bed of the truck was Lincoln, Lucy, Salem and Kara who wanted to get to know their new acquaintances. Lincoln had been surprised to hear that he and Lucy made it out of Colorado quite a while ago and was currently in Kansas, specifically the outskirts of Smallville.

The ride was peaceful, a few bumps but nothing unpleasant by the Louds' standards. In the front seat, Mr. and Mrs. Kent were having a small talk of their own.

"Man they grown 'em big out in the dead-zone don't they hun." Jonathan told his wife.

"They sure do, I thought Clark and Karen were big but this other one is something else." Martha agreed.

"What are they feeding that boy?" He wonders out loud, "You think, they're all like that girl Lucy?" He asks his wife.

"Quiet?"

"That and can turn off people's minds with a snap of the fingers." He explains.

"I hope not, you heard the rumors about some kind of uprising about a year ago and it got me thinking about the mutants locked in Curdun Cay." Martha began.

"What about it?" He asks.

"Just taking every mutant they can find and just lock them up just for something they can't control with no due process, sure a lot of them should be in there but what if they come after our-" She's cutoff by her husband.

"They won't." He says with absolute certainty, "They don't have a reason to come up here."

"But what if they do come here?"

Jonathan just lets out a sigh and goes quiet.

While that was going on Clark and Karen were talking with one another.

"I'm telling you he didn't flinch, I don't know if he even felt anything." Karen quietly tells her cousin.

"Are you sure, I mean I'm sure he's strong but-" He was stopped by Karen.

"You can bench loaded trucks and you know I can crush rocks with my hands without trying, yes this guy can definitely take one of us on."

"No question about the girl?" Clark asks needlessly.

"Yeah no kidding, can we talk about the cat for a second and do you think they'd let me pet her."

Clark just deadpans at her.

"What!" Karen quietly screams at him.

"Nothing."

"S'what I thought."

As those two were talking Conner was just staring out the window, ignoring everything and exploring his own thoughts. Currently he was thinking about Lucy, he couldn't really get a good look at her face, it reminded him about that well girl from that ring movie and then he thought about her when she was walking ahead of him and how great her ass looked those jeans.

'Creepy in the front but HOT from the back' He thought as the image of chest came into mind, 'She's as big as Karen,' he dwelled on that as he formed another thought, 'Bet she's with that douchebag.'

Then Conner thought more on Lincoln, 'He only caught me off guard, I bet without the chick and that cat, he's nothing.'

Back in the bed of the truck Lincoln was asking a few questions as Kara got to play with Salem.

"So when we reach this town, what's the currency situation looking?" He asks as Kara raises a brow.

"The what?"

"What I meant was do they take; cash, credits or god forbid bottle caps?" Lincoln clarifies.

"Oh yeah we take bo-… bottle caps?" Kara asks not believing what she just heard.

Lincoln looks away for a second, "New Vegas was weird." Was all he said.

"But it was fun while we were there." Lucy chimes in.

"But still weird." Lincoln adds.

Kara just stares both in awe and confusion, "So yeah we take money and credits, we have military stationed here and get outside militia from time to time. So I have a question."

"Shoot," Lincoln gives her the oaky.

"You're both mutants right?" Kara asks even though she knows the answer.

"Yeah, I'd figure you'd known that when your brother tried to fight me." Lincoln points out.

"My br-what, nooo, no Conner's my cousin." Kara states.

"Ah okay." 'Conner, Conner, ~Connie, Con-man, Con-artist~ ooh I better remember that one for later' He thinks to himself.

"Yeah me and my sister, Kara and Karen Danvers, our mom Carol was sisters with Ma and sent us here sometimes while she was away and dad couldn't take care of us."

"Oh were you all separated after the attack by uh… HD?" He asks having heard stories like that before.

"No, um my mom was in the Airforce when I was little I think and she died when I was like 8."

That caught Lincoln and Lucy by surprise, it was just unusual to hear these days.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"It's fine, don't worry about it, I don't really remember her, she wasn't around much but I feel closer to her ever since I got these powers, it's weird."

"… Yeah." Lincoln somberly nods, thinking back to his own family.

Kara regains his attention, "So anyway you guys are mutants, what can you do, I mean I get Lucy is 'one with the force' but you, I kinda thought you were like Clark and Conner, y'know like super strong and durable but then you just ate Karen's attack with your hand, like literally."

Lincoln perked up and hesitated for a moment, "Well that's a bit of loaded question," he was stalling, Lincoln has encountered people who were very much interested in what he could do and it was always hard when giving a satisfying answer, eventually he just started dodging the subject entirely but now…

"What do you mean?" Asked Kara not knowing she might as well be stepping on a land mine.

Before Lincoln could give an answer Lucy came to the rescue, "What he means is that it's complicated, we don't really know too much ourselves." Not too off from the truth actually.

Kara pauses a moment, "Oookay, moving on, so you guys came deeper from the dead-zone, what's it like out there?"

Lincoln and Lucy look at one another for an instant before Lucy spoke up, "It was hell." She said bluntly.

Kara flinches as Lincoln started speaking.

"Don't get us wrong, not everywhere is a mess, some places are pretty tame really, you'll find crazies just about anywhere if you look for them but in between towns are swarms of raging dickbags doing their worst Madmax renditions and are looking to kill anything that moves."

Lincoln takes a second to look over Kara's face, she has a hard look and is a bit distant, 'maybe you oversold it a little too much Lincoln,' he coughs to get her attention.

"But lately I've been hearing that this new president's gunning to bring the place back under control, maybe the walls will come down soon."

Kara sports the tinniest smile and says, "Yeah maybe you're right."

"Been stuck on a farm for what, 6 years?" Lincoln asks.

"Yep!" Kara exclaimed with emphasis on the 'P', "Doesn't help that we kinda supply a good chunk of the produce in town, so we have to keep ourselves busy."

Lincoln was about to ask another question we Jonathan shouts, "Hold on back there!"

The truck was going over some uneven road with continuous bumps while a metallic clanging made itself known as Lincoln looks to his shotgun that was foolishly still out, he quickly grabs it and stuffs it into his duffle bag.

Kara stares at Lucy or more specifically her chest as they bounce and her head follows up and down, she glances down at her own and compares, 'You're shitting me, how are miss Jedi mind trick over here and Karen are so stacked and I know it's not just a mutant thing, how is this fair, do I need to drink more milk?' she asks herself.

Lucy on the other hand knew Kara was staring but didn't say anything, she could tell when people were looking at her, one of her non-mutant gifts but she doesn't appreciate the attention like with Conner, she could practically feel his teen hormones whenever her stared at her. Between Kara and Conner at least Lucy preferred the jealousy coming off of Kara but neither were who she wanted looking at her.

The truck is back on smooth ground as it pulls onto the road leading into a nice town that was a mix of rural and suburban, houses, businesses and large buildings.

Upon entering town Lincoln and Lucy spied the local military stationed here, they notice their uniforms are pretty clean and guessed they came from outside the wall and haven't seen too much action.

Some were dressed in dark-grey jumpsuits and flak jackets, some in standard army enlistment uniforms and others walking beside them in neither.

The town may have been small and it didn't look as amazing as the sights they've seen before the walls came up but after all the shitholes camps, derelict communities and settlements 'cobbled together and torn down' by passer goers, this was absolutely beautiful, a nice change of pace.

The air was so crisp, clean and fresh from the untouched foliage, no smog, no rubble and best of all no deformed semi-goopy Akira-esque monster hissing or shitting out a humanoid corpse, that is an image you don't forget.

People were going about their business without so much as a second glance towards one another.

There was a little boy playing with a ball, 'Someone should be watching him,' were Lincoln's thoughts as he looked elsewhere, examining this nice little town.

Usually to see places this nice, the people were complete trash, the areas were controlled by an authoritarian sect of militia, everything was ruled by wanton debauchery or more commonly some combination of the three.

Things here seem pretty lax so far.

As Lincoln and Lucy unloaded from the truck, Salem jumps onto Lucy's shoulder as they stared around in awe, they were drinking it all in.

Whatever thoughts they had running through their heads were cut off by Jonathan calling out to the two.

Lincoln asked since the place takes credits that he would need to meet with whoever the C.O was and clear it with them, surprisingly enough, Conner volunteered to take them.

Kara and Karen really wanted to argue against it but desperately wanted some space from him and kept silent.

As Lucy was asking a few questions Lincoln was beginning to hear 'everything', people walking, conversations, cars going by, different smells, numerous colorful buildings and the sensations are just piling on each other.

Lincoln's a bit over-stimulated, his senses are way better than most people's but something has him on edge.

It's nothing too unusual by Lincoln standards but this sort of setting had been so alien to him, it's as if some baser instinct was telling him to be on guard when suddenly.

*CRASH*

Lincoln's head immediately turns to the source of the tremor as his eyes narrowed and locked onto a car currently embedded into a lamppost as the same boy he saw earlier, crouched and cowering at the fear of impact.

Lincoln stares on intently when something washes over him, feelings he can put into words in his head.

CALM DOWN – RELAX – SAFE

Lincoln's eyes grow hazy before they snap wide open and he looks over to Lucy.

"Are you better Lincoln?" She asked.

"Yeah, I am. I guess I zoned out there for a sec huh?" He asked feeling embarrassed while feeling something in his right hand.

Lincoln looked over to the Kents as they wore worried faces then Jonathan approaches and opens his mouth.

"Alright, now can you please put the gun away son, hopefully before someone sees it." He said as Lincoln looks down and sees his favorite hand-cannon (finger off the trigger).

Behind Lincoln's shades are wide eyes and shrunken pupils, he instantly checks the safety (it's on) then he takes out his duffle bag and shoves it in.

He looks away as he mutters an apology. Lucy puts a hand on his shoulder, she knows if this were a few years ago Lincoln would have shot first before looking. She can feel the 'guilt' and 'shame' rolling off of him.

The Kents look to one another, Karen and Clark don't know what to make of it, Conner's eyes narrow as Kara looks back to Lincoln in worry. On the faces of Jonathan and Martha were looks of pity and commiseration.

Jonathan has seen looks similar to the one Lincoln had on, it was the face of focused instinct brought on by years of experience, He's seen it on the faces of soldiers who've patrolled the farm, ones that have been overseas.

Martha once saw a face like that on her sister Carol (while she was visiting) when she was being mugged or someone 'attempted' to mug her, it wasn't pretty for the poor bastard.

Jonathan whispers to his family, "I'll go with them-" As he's cut off by Conner.

"No! I got this." He looks on, eyes locked on Lincoln, 'If he tries anything, he's dead' he thinks until his head turns and his eyes land on Lucy's butt as he calms down again.

A chill goes down Lucy's back as she feels Conner's horny teenage eyes on her.

Karen quietly asks, "Do you think it was a good idea bringing them here?" Worried they may have brought an unstable lunatic into town.

Pa Kent shuts her down, "What was the alternative, point him in the wrong direction and have to do this all over again." He subtly glances at Conner, "Besides, I think I know what's wrong, we'll just take him to Wilson and if he checks out then he checks out, understood?" He asks as they nod, they know Wilson is a good judge of character.

They probably can't tell but Lincoln can hear them and Lucy can feel their 'alarm', 'sympathy' and 'anticipation for violence', she can guess who feels what without looking.

The Kents are rejoined by the three as Lincoln begins talking.

"Sorry about that, I don't know what came over me." The edge of his mouth tightens.

Martha speaks up, "Don't worry about that, young man, Conner, mind your manners and after you've taken them to the Lieutenant we'll be at the market." Conner just grumbles in response.

And so the two groups part ways.

-XxX-

The louds and Conner make their way down a district with a police station and was busy with the majority of the people dressed in camo uniforms, some in typical small town police uniforms and some in body armor.

Supply trucks filled with crates and soldiers make their way into town as an armored truck with a mounted machine gun passes by the group.

Lincoln was taking everything in as he was in front even though a certain angry boy was supposed to be leading them.

As Lucy was carrying Salem, Conner was trying to make conversation from 'behind' her, his head downward (typical).

Suddenly Lincoln speaks up, "So, Connie, where to next?"

Conner just grunts until Lucy asked him, "Where are we to traverse next, Conner?"

He quickly perked up and directed them to what was the 'county' sheriff's office, Lincoln just rolled his eyes and held a small smile.

On their way to the building Lincoln saw a great deal of the soldiers look in his direction, he paid it no mind and just kept walking.

As they made it to the building Lincoln heard one of the soldiers outside use their personal radio, inside they didn't see anyone, not even a receptionist but they did see stairs, then Lincoln asked a question.

"So, Connie, do we just go on upstairs or would that be inviting myself to a shootout with whoever's in charge?" Again no response, "Hey Luce, you think Connie can take his eyes off your butt long enough to pay attention?" He called over to her knowing what might happen.

Conner just started grinding his teeth and getting a bit red, "The Hells your problem, jackass!" He yells over in an attempt at being menacing as Lincoln just smiles coyly.

"~Me, I'm just asking a question~, maybe you should learn some manners or better yet learn some restraint, so lighten up and help us out here." He says mockingly, Lucy sighs and decides to stand by a wall hoping this would end quickly.

Conner was getting really huffy like when they were on the farm, "Shut up right now-"

"Or what you'll get angry and try to hit a guy with their back turned again and fail at that again, ooh maybe you'll actually get a hit in this time." Lincoln chuckles to himself, it was just too easy with this kid.

"I'm am not playing games with you, I will crush you." Conner said with his eye twitching, Lincoln and Lucy's heads perk up a bit as they felt someone coming but Lincoln continues goading Conner.

"~Oh wow so edgy~, *sigh* I'd love to see you try-" Lincoln is cut off as someone else speaks.

"As would I, Conner." Came a cold and unyieldingly strong voice.

The trio turned to see a light skinned man in a grey jumpsuit and dark body armor. The man had an eyepatch over his right eye and his head was adorned with short but thick light grey hair which was weird considering he seemed to be a tad young to be sporting the silver fox look.

The lone blue eye of the new individual stared down at Conner as he struggled to meet his gaze.

Neither of the two spoke as the Louds looked at each other and had a private 'conversation', something they usually do when they look to one another.

Suddenly the man speaks up, "Conner, how's the family?" He said with a small grin.

Lincoln could see how awkward Conner was being and decide to have fun with it.

"Yo, Connie what's up, he asked you a question." Lincoln saw the man's grin widen just a bit as he chuckles to himself.

Conner glowers at him but let's out a sigh, "Fine, Slade." He says quickly as the now named Slade talks again.

"Good, good, my men radioed me and said I should be expecting some interesting guests." He ended glancing at the Louds.

Lincoln just retorts, "Hmm, I wonder who that could've meant?" He asked with open sarcasm as he winks at Lucy and Salem.

Slade coughs gaining everyone's attention, "Moving on, Conner, a word please." With that the two made their way upstairs leaving the louds to their own devices.

Lincoln closes his eyes and hears their footsteps followed by a door closing, he hears murmurs but picks up a few words here and there but then it becomes clearer as he knows Conner is raising his voice, not much of it good.

Lincoln still with his eyes closed looks over to Lucy and they do their thing.

Lucy begins projecting emotions that Lincoln can match words to. Trouble?

He shakes his head in no, he takes a breath and responds. Annoyance.

Threat? He is unsure if she's referring to Conner or Slade but just answered honestly. Indifferent.

He whispers over to Lucy, "How do you want to play this with the people here?" He receives her answer though her feelings. Honesty with Caution. He replies. Agreed.

Another advantage of having the majority of your conversations 'silent', no one knows what you're talking about without context.

As they finished Lincoln hears the two returning and just relaxes.

Conner walks over to the Louds first but makes a B line to a nearby wall and leans against it, looking away from everyone.

Slade walks up to Lincoln and asks, "If it's alright with you sir, I'd like a moment to talk with you alone."

As per usual the Louds look at each other and in Lincoln's head he feels Lucy tell him she'll be safe on her own and that Slade has no ill intention.

-Lincoln & Slade-

As the two men make their way upstairs and through a hallway, Lincoln sees a few doors open each empty, the two make their way to the end of the hall.

Slade is a man of experience and he knows what to look out for in strangers without looking at them, by the way they walked.

He is walking side by side with Lincoln and he sees Lincoln's head held up, (supposedly) eyes forward but something inside Slade told him that Lincoln is being cautious and is watching all of his sides.

Even Lincoln's footsteps are silent, very un-military like, more akin to an assassin, from what Conner told him this Lincoln person was supposed to be a disrespectful and antagonistic ruffian who blindsided him (he cleaned up the language into something suitable) and was possibly a raider.

Conner also told him that the girl, Lucy, was one of those esper types, but very quiet and may be more secretive than the man (again the phrasing restructured by Slade).

Conner also said that Lincoln might be a psychopath who can snap at any time, Slade never really liked Conner much and that is an understatement, it would be more appropriate to say that nearly every one of his men and plenty of people in Smallville wanted to strangle him.

He's been getting very uppity lately and coupled together with him being a very strong mutant has given him quite the ego. It would be wise or you know 'believable' to get this 'Lincoln's' story before making any assumptions.

Lincoln saw the way Slade carried himself, he was a warrior, a real soldier not like the pretenders that joined up after the walls came up, he reminded Lincoln of Captain Rogers a bit, a man molded by time and experience.

Was that hair natural Lincoln thought to himself, was it platinum blond like Leni's and faded with age or was it really white like Lincoln's, 'Is he a mutant," he thought as the two walked through a door and closed it.

The first thing Lincoln noticed in this apparent office of sorts was a big desk littered with papers. Two chairs on either side of the desk and by what Lincoln would assume to be Slade's chair was a long katana in a black sheathe.

Along the walls are some papers, a chart mapping out the town and a drawing made by a child from what Lincoln could see but wasn't interested.

Slade gestured for Lincoln to take a seat as he took his own, "Now before we get to business, I was informed that you and your uh lady friend came from the barricade and had an encounter with Conner at his farm."

Of course Lincoln knew some of what Slade and Conner were talking about, I didn't take long for Conner to start shouting, one floor away from behind closed doors and Lincoln could listen in on their private conversation.

Conner mostly painted Lincoln as some raider punk who caught him off guard, demanding from his family.

Lincoln nodded to Slade as he began speaking again, "I see, well introductions are in order, I am Lieutenant Slade Wilson, special-forces and currently the Commanding Officer of the Smallvile Kansas base." He finished as he held out his hand for Lincoln to take.

"Lincoln Park," His mouth twitched into a smile for a bit, "Freelance mercenary, part time bounty hunter and moonlights as a bartender." He says shaking the lieutenant's hand.

The two relaxed back into their seats before Slade spoke up again, "But that's not all you are, is it?" That came out more like a statement than a question and Lincoln sighs, "Please, you don't need to hide that with me or even in this town… I'm not like Augustine, no one's going to lock you up or throw you out for being what you are."

Lincoln could feel that he meant it too.

"I assume that's what the glasses are for?" Slade asks as Lincoln nods.

"It's so people don't draw attention to them." He says.

"I think you lost the option of blending in with that particular hair color." Slade says with a grin.

"Believe it or not, this was natural, long before HD." Lincoln replies.

"No kidding? I hate to ask but the glasses… would you mind-" He is stopped by Lincoln removing them and placing one end behind his shirt.

Slade's eye widens a bit as he stares into the intensity and power of Lincoln's glowing golden oculus, like smoldering amber jewels.

The two begin their talk.

-Lucy & Conner-

Lucy and Salem had stood very patiently for Lincoln to come back, the silence was alright but the company was what bothered Lucy.

She often ignores the gazes of strangers who like to examine her body but she'd never want to be stuck in a room with any of them.

Lucy has accepted that she is both blessed and cursed with a body many crave with the most perverse intentions and for the most part it doesn't bother her, some are polite enough to take in her looks in passing and she hopefully never has to see them again, then there are others like Conner right now who can't keep their eyes off of her.

That and with her powers, Lucy 'knows' what you're thinking and that bothers her more than people looking. The feeling of people undressing you with their eyes is very unsettling when it's not the one you want.

Conner continues to sneak glances at Lucy believing he hasn't been caught (again) and is it any mystery why he is looking, there is a beautiful girl near him with a body that puts the girls in his 'still functioning high school' to shame.

Speaking of school, the people there have been getting really annoying, all this talk about wanting to explore the world outside of the walls and finally get out of this town has really been getting to him as of late.

Conner has to help out at the farm, Conner has to go to school with morons who won't shut up and adults who think they know better, Conner has to be nice, Conner has to stop getting into fights, Conner this Conner that, it's driving him insane.

He feels his temper rising again than he looks over to Lucy and is once again mesmerized by her voluptuous bust, her small waist and her round butt. He could do without the 'ring-girl' hair but he's slowly coming around to it, it has an air of mystery and he's pretty curious what she's hiding behind all that hair.

His eyes linger on a bit longer than he usually does, then Lucy calls out to him.

"I'd prefer you divert your libidinous fixations elsewhere please." Said Lucy in her typical poetic and expanded vocabulary, normally she doesn't like talking to people other than Lincoln with little more than a few words and hoped people would stop talking to her.

With that Conner looked away with a huff but opened his mouth.

"What's up with that guy anyway?" He asked under his breath but just loud enough for Lucy to hear.

"…Pardon?" She barely looks his way.

"I mean he talks like he's some big shot but I bet without you or that cat he's worthless." Conner said in a gruff.

Lucy doesn't talk back, honestly she's trying to ignore him unfortunately Conner takes this as a sign to keep going.

"I'm right aren't I? This joker's playing games when you're the real muscle huh?"

This got Lucy to speak, "As I recall, he had you on your knees earlier did he not?" She could only hope he took the hint to shut up.

"He just caught me off guard-"

"One could say YOU tried to catch him off guard and failed miserably." Lucy spat out in a dry tone.

*Tch* "What do you see in a guy like that anyway?" Conner mocks.

"He's a much better companion than anyone else," she looks to Salem and smiles, "Well, almost anyone."

*Pfft* "What's so great about him," he pauses to see if she'll respond, "He sounds like a total tool." To this Lucy frowns.

"Sigh, people like you could never understand what I see but I suppose it's my obligation to tell you where YOU stand in the food chain.

Without me, Lincoln, on his own can weather the storm of this waking nightmare, he is a being of sheer and absolute will and focus.

He is beyond strength, he is beyond your comprehension, beyond your definition of power, he is beyond even me, he stands above mutants altogether.

You are but a mere cub gazing upon a majestic lion, the threat you pose him is so hopelessly, hilariously non-existent that he can't help but find amusement in your feeble attempts at intimidation.

That would be an accurate summation of my feelings towards anyone who dares to compare themselves to Lincoln." Lucy articulates all without raising her voice or shifting her monotonous speech, she stated it all as if a fact or perhaps someone of worship.

Without looking Lucy can feel the cycle of emotions flooding from Conner, starting with 'indifference', shifting to 'interest', then bleeding into 'inadequacy', lastly landing on a kindling 'rage' bursting into a roaring flame of 'hatred' directed not at Lucy or Salem but upstairs and Lucy knows whom it is focused at.

"I don't know why you're so angry, I answered your question did I not?" The ebon haired beauty asked knowing she shouldn't expect a rational answer.

-Back with Lincoln & Slade-

*Sigh* "I do not envy the Kents having to deal with that boy all day." Said Slade as he massaging his temple.

The two had been discussing a chunk of what Lincoln has seen and done before he came to smallville.

While in conversation Slade had gotten passed the glowing eyes bit with Lincoln, it isn't something he hasn't seen before at least once or twice but it is a bit unsettling and not in a bad way 'per say'.

As they continue Slade learns of Lincoln's history with the militia and his take on them is not flattering to say the least. Slade and his unit were deployed to guard the border and by extension the surrounding territories within the state of Kansas, after learning what happened to the soldiers trapped inside the walls, he became unnerved with the conditions of the other states.

Civilians drafted into pseudo military factions at war with other authorities, even with the absence of long distance communication, each faction if led by real soldiers should have been working to keep order, not whatever it is their doing with each other, though he does not expressly make his opinion known, Lincoln sees Slade's inner turmoil.

"I was made aware that you and the lady were not only mutants but traveling with a class 3 B.O.W in tow." Slade states.

Lincoln is confused at the term, "B.O.W?" He asks.

"Bio Organic Weapon, it's what the politicians are calling non-human lifeforms who've been… changed."

"Huh, I've only ever the term Bio-Terrorist. Are uh, B.O.W's coined by the new president or what?" The term Bio-terrorist was created about two years after the walls came up to rally people against mutants and push 'laws' for legal means of incarcerating them.

"This new guy's alright I think, I don't really give much thought to what those idiots in congress are calling mutants, it's all crap anyway, so about that B.O-." *"Salem"* "… Excuse me."

"My cat, HER name is Salem." Lincoln voiced strongly.

"… Right, I noticed she is rather docile compared to most B.O.W's, can you communicate with it- her?" He asked.

"First, the woman downstairs, Lucy, can to some extent communicate with her, Salem is just very cooperative and second, class 3?"

"Depending on the method of creation, there are different classifications of B.O.W's, class 1's are deformed wild life operating on instinct and in the worst case violent, class 2's listen to reason and are normally territorial, class 3's are intelligent, to where some show problem solving capabilities of human children and the mutations don't stop at deformities as you know, some develop powers."

"Is there a class 4 or higher?" Asked Lincoln.

"Yes, but they're labeled threats to be put down on sight. As far as I know class 4's are mentally or emotionally unstable class 3's or humanoid creatures and class 5's are massively mutated behemoths that pose a threat to humanity or that's what I've been told to say, truth is I've never seen one but a few unlucky souls have had an encounter with class 5's before.

I've read reports of large monstrosities roaming before and after the walls came up, disgusting body horrors that you'd only ever seen in a David Cronenberg flick and that's inside the wall, right before I was deployed there were rumors of a zombie virus in some no-name city that got wiped out.

A bunch of people investigated a big mansion that someone was housing his experimentations in and I heard a whole city in some state outside the walls was destroyed because of it." He finished as Lincoln stared wide eyed.

"Goddamn." Was all he could say.

"Yeah, it's not good."

There was a brief silence before Slade continued.

"Well let's move on, I just wanted to know who came into town."

"Right, to be upfront, were just looking to pass through and cross the-" He's stopped by Slade.

"Cross the border right, look I know why you came here, between here, Nebraska and Oklahoma, Kansas was your best option and I know plenty of people have gotten out but a few months ago that city destroying problem got the big wigs spooked.

No one is being let out and after Augustine got Washington secured, everyone's wondering what comes next. So I'm sorry but if you go any further than this, they'll probably 'tell' you to turn back." Slade used air quotes when he said 'tell', Lincoln knows what he means.

"I'll be real with you I kinda knew it wouldn't be that easy, but that's not gonna stop us, we got family out there and we might have an in IF we can get to someone with enough pull." This got Slade's attention.

"What do you got?"

"I'm hoping a certain scientist can pull a few strings and get me and Luce an EVAC as soon as they find out we're alive."

"You really think that'll be enough?"

"I hope so, until we can move on, me and Lucy are gonna need a place to stay-"

"We've got room, there's a motel in town, we get some drifters, they stay there sometimes."

"Awesome!" Lincoln exclaimed.

"Yeaah not so much, it's not a charity, so unless you can pay, you're camping out in the woods.

Lincoln shrugs his shoulder and goes through his big backpack, after rifling through for a good minute, Lincoln pulls out a smaller bag and puts it on the desk.

Lincoln opens the bag and presents Slade with what may be hundreds of signed slips, stamped with recognizable US military rubber stamp insignias, all of them are viable credits and from the looks of it, he's loaded.

"What and how?" Slade said with a bit of bite to his words.

"Being a mutant has its privileges and when you're as good as me and Luce, you get hired for a great deal of money-err credits." Lincoln explained.

"How much… is all of this?" Slade asked.

"Last time I checked uhh… about 480,000 in total, I'm only carrying about half with me."

Slade's eye widen in surprise and not much these days could surprise him, but in a single afternoon two mutants and a class 3 B.O.W made their way into town (past the gate erected when multiple class 1 and 2 B.O.W's being led by a class 3 slaughtered the inhabitants of El Paso) without so much as trouble but they could actually buy out most of the supplies Slade and his men had.

Sure supplies come in from outside the wall and there used to be airdrops or so he heard and on occasion he's traded them for the approved currency crafted by the militia out in the dead-zone.

However there was no way he could let Lincoln and Lucy essentially take what they wanted with just slips of paper, the amount they possessed would put the base in an awkward position.

"I'll be straight with you, there's no way we can cover that much in 'credits', maybe 15, maybe 20,000 but not half a mil, anything more and you're paying with cash." Slade said bluntly.

"I suppose that's fair." It's not much of a problem either, Lincoln has other plans with the amount of credits he has.

-XxX-

Lincoln and Slade had spent a few more minutes talking about the former's living arrangements but they figured it was a good time to collect Lucy and check in their inventory.

As the two made it down the stairs they heard yelling, Conner of course.

"Why hello, ~Connie~, you waited for little old me." Lincoln says with a grin.

Lincoln and Conner had a stare-down until Slade shut it down with him volunteering to walk Conner back to his family.

"Alright then, Lincoln Park and Lucy…"

"Graves, Lucy Graves." She replies with the faintest smile as Slade nodded.

"Right, welcome to Smallville."

-XxX-

The louds had been 'forced' to check in their weapons with their quartermaster their own locker to which they got the key (By 'forced' they were asked politely to turn over their weapons and they complied). They had also been given sheets and pillows for their stay at the motel.

The walk back had been tense and meeting back with the Kents had been awkward.

A few words pass between the Lieutenant and the Kent patriarch before they parted.

Lincoln and Lucy had expressed their thanks to the Kents, though only Jonathan, Martha and Kara seemed interested in returning the sentiment.

Lincoln gives one last "Bye Connie" before they took off, which left Conner steaming and the rest of his family chuckling.

The 'Louds' had been escorted by the lieutenant to their temporary quarters. It was a two-story motel, the exterior looked dingy with chipped white paint and not a lot of people were around.

Only about two other people were staying currently but that wasn't important.

Lincoln and Lucy were on the ground floor and away from the other tenants, before they went inside Slade left them the key, told them not to lose it and took off.

Inside the room was plain, dull and lifeless. They had been informed that the power and water was on but that's about it, no fridge, no stove or oven (not a problem) and they'd have to go into town to get a heater but the two could put that of until the morning.

There were two full size beds currently bare and surprisingly clean, the walls and floor were wood lined, though a little faded. There were lights above them and along the wall was a door that led to a bathroom with working indoor plumbing.

Speaking of plumbing, there seems to be a sink with no available kitchenware and lastly, a nice table, a couple of wooden stools and a window with a beautiful view of the sun beginning to set.

Currently Lincoln was checking for bugs, they may not be camping in the woods but no one wants to wake up to pests crawling on top of them.

Lincoln declared them bug free before noting the sun was coming down, Slade had told him before that there is a curfew.

"I guess I'll get in the shower first." Says Lucy as she just stood in front of the door with a bundle of clothes in her arms while looking back at Lincoln, 'Ask him, ask him to "join you", this is what you've been waiting for.' She thinks to herself.

Lincoln sees she hasn't moved in a bit and a thought occurs, 'Maybe she'll invite you in huh, maybe she's ready, nah don't be ridiculous, but you could ask, what's the harm?' He begins debating with himself as he misses Lucy's hands tightening into a fist.

She really wants to tell him something that much Lincoln knows but she turns and closes the door.

Lincoln let's out a breath and thinks, 'Maybe next time?' "Guess I'll get dinner started then."

Meanwhile with Lucy her breathing is hitched as her cheeks turn red and sweat rolls down her face, 'Coward! You know what you wanted and you know he wants it too, what's the problem?' She screams at herself.

Lucy looks down in shame and turns on the shower.

Back with Lincoln, he didn't have much to work with. Jerky, canned fruit, can of peanuts, a small can of milk, chocolate and soft caramels from their rations and there was plenty the problem was there was no variety with the only spices being packets of salt and sugar.

Suddenly Lincoln began channeling his inner Lynn sr and an idea started to formulate.

As Salem was making herself comfortable on a bed, Lincoln was digging through his large camping backpack. He pulled out lots of folded clothes, boxes filled with miscellaneous items, crafting supplies, water bottles and finally a portable double burner electric stove-top, a skillet, a small saucepan, a couple of metal bowls and eating utensils.

From his crafting supplies he grabs some paper plates and saw candles and that got him thinking.

Lincoln got to work, he laid the 'stove-top' on the desk and turned it on but it didn't start, 'Must be out of juice,' he thought as he shrugged and brought his hands to the sides and watched as his hands glowed a bright white then surged with a crackling blue electrical charge.

As if it was easy as breathing, Lincoln passed the charge into the stove top, power flowing from it into the appliance.

He's done this before, Lincoln and Lucy haven't needed to depend on campfires to do their cooking in years, Lincoln has had plenty of practice recharging electrical appliances, this was cake walk for him.

Now he was ready to begin.

First the jerky, the plan was to rehydrate and cook it in the skillet with some water to get rid of the salty taste on one burner.

Next he filled the saucepan with canned milk and soft caramels, he mixed them until they became a runny sauce and poured that into a bowl.

He repeated that some process with some chocolate.

Crushed some peanuts and put them on a plate.

Open the canned fruit and dump out the syrup, to dry the wet combination of sliced peaches, grapes and cherries, Lincoln took a deep breath and let out a misty cold breath into the can of fruits as little ice crystal began to form on them, that was enough, he set that aside on a plate.

He went back to the jerky and saw it was hydrated, he dumped the salty water out and began dipping the hot strips of beef jerky into the chocolate and caramels sauces and left some alone with a light coating of salt from the packets, he put the jerky on plates and moved on.

Now the fruits, for some Lincoln dipped in the caramel and rolled them in the crushed peanuts, for others he carefully drizzled chocolate over the ice-cold fruit slices.

Lincoln took a moment to eye his creation, chocolate and caramel dipped jerk- err well beef strips now and 'regular' beef strips lightly salted, and for desert as if there wasn't enough sweets candied fruits, more than enough water.

'Not really Michelin star praise worthy but much better than basic MRE's, besides we'll get stuff tomorrow, now for tonight, every great chef knows half the meal is presentation and atmosphere,' Lincoln ponders and looks back to the candles, sure there are lights but Lucy would appreciate the ambiance of a dark room illuminated with eerie lit wicks.

Lincoln gets to work, pulling the blinds down wasn't enough, he grabbed some cloth from his crafting supplies and hung it over the window with thumbtacks, ehh if it works.

-XxX-

Lucy emerges from the bathroom into a ghostly aura that basked in the room, an air that wasn't there before she stepped inside.

'How long was I in there?' She asked herself, if was easy to lose track of time when you're appreciating hot water in a real shower, 'It wasn't like this before, but I'm not complaining, perhaps this is Lincoln's doing?' She concludes.

Lucy flips the light in the bathroom and lets the candle lit darkness take hold of her lodging.

She hears a sound and looks over to her left and jumps a little when a figure presents itself from the shadows.

Lincoln, he was in a tight black shirt that outlined his large muscular form, his hair cleanly slicked back and away from his face as the light of his eyes resonated with the light of the candles and put Lucy under a trance.

Lincoln could see Lucy changed too and into significantly less clothing than she was in.

Her hair parted revealing her right eye, 'so beautiful,' his eyes traveled down and saw she was in an oversized white dress shirt specifically one of his but it doesn't bother him, she's been known to wear his shirts from time to time.

It was the way she was wearing it really made Lincoln's heart jump, a couple of the top buttons were undone revealing a solid black bra and with the bottoms being covered, Lincoln could only assume they matched in color.

Going a bit further down Lucy's legs were adorned with monochrome striped stockings, from her feet up to her thighs.

With the warm glow of the candle flame shining upon her ivory white skin, Lincoln couldn't help but falter under the enchanting visage of Lucy.

He hoped he wouldn't make an ass of himself as he took a deep breath and stepped forward, "Welcome, my Mistress of the Night, my Lovely Black Rose, my ~Hertis Rote~." He whispered that last phrase into her ear as she shivered in his delivery.

Her face was getting hotter as her breathing became uneven and then it happened.

She felt warm and soft flesh meet her lips as she was pulled into a deep kiss from her love.

Unlike the one of this morning she tasted not ash but a sweet bitter aroma and the phantom fragrance of chocolate, to which she imagined dripping over her and making its way into her mouth.

Her back arched as she felt his hand gliding up her right thigh that snaked its way to her firm rear and gave it a nice squeeze but soon left it alone to join his other arm, wrapping around her waist just as Lucy wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in a deeper kiss.

A moment passed over them as they let go of one another, wanting to bask in each other's presence but the rumbling of Lincoln's gut reminded them what hunger needed sating.

-XxX-

Dinner was satisfying, Salem really tore into the jerky just as Lucy couldn't get enough of the candied fruits and Lincoln got his fill of chocolate coated beef.

Talks were had and plans were being made between the two but night was coming to pass but before Lincoln could get a word in, Lucy volunteered for first watch.

Sure the two were in a 'safe' environment but that didn't mean they could take it easy.

"You haven't gotten any rest in the last three days, I'm taking first watch end of story!" She was not in the mood to argue and neither was Lincoln.

"Alright, you got it missy but-" He was cut off.

"No buts, now march." Lucy commanded with her finger pointing to bed.

With that Lincoln admitted defeat, he lost that round and chuckled to himself, his eyes glowed brighter for a quick second as the majority of the candles burned at brilliant white flame and when he closed his eyes they were snuffed out.

Lincoln walked off and climbed into bed, he really couldn't relax, but then he help Lucy aid him into his journey into the world of dreams with a gentle command – SLEEP.

It was an agreement between them for her not to use her powers on him unless needed but he was never going to sleep on his own in a convenient time.

His eyes closed and he found rest.

Lucy smiled sincerely as she saw her Lincoln finally getting some well-deserved sleep. She took a look around and saw the darkened room was barely illuminated by a few candles on each end of the room.

She went to her backpack and pulled out a book, the cover was worn out but the words read 'The Forbidden Garden: a dark romance'.

For the longest time, Lucy has been into literature with the common themes of temptation and forbidden romances, she's never let Lincoln read her more personal books, not because of the taboo subjects but because she's been getting into smut for quite a while.

One sister finding out was bad enough, she doesn't need her love thinking less of her interests especially with their personal problems as of late.

Lucy pulls up a stool, sat with her legs crossed and cracks open her book to a random page with a place holder as a smile spreads across her face.

END

---

[Sooo, this was actually supposed to be out a little after Halloween but while typing, an unapproved update had rendered my laptop unusable for a few hours and when I got back to work I discovered my documents and saved videos and images for the last 2 months had been deleted with no clue how to get them back. I took it to a few people but everything seemed in order no viruses or major changes in performance just lost and corrupted files including some other fanfics I wanted to start in the future.

So after bitching over that for nearly 2 weeks and in between work and this I decided to just move on and keep going, and after missing 2 update windows I wanted to make it larger knowing it would take time and here we are.

In a few updates when I've gotten to a certain point I'll be going on hiatus to work on a buffer of pre-written chapters and in between post some oneshots and the beginnings to some of my other fanfics I'm currently writing.]

[As I've said before I prefer using characters from outside sources as opposed to OC's, most won't be integral to the overall story and mostly there for a certain period of time or maybe even for just a reference]

[I made Kara (supergirl) and Karen (powergirl) ms marvels kids, she won't make an appearance, just a plug in.

I know slade Wilson or deathstroke the terminator is traditionally the bad guy or lends his services to bad guys but he was military before he went rogue, maybe he'll be in future chapters for now just in charge of an outpost.

I'm not too happy with how I wrote Clark but in my opinion when rewatching Smallville, he came off as a bit of a horndog, this may be because he had a new love interest in every season at least but I wanted to take a bit of a realistic approach to a handsome, big guy who attracts attention of the female persuasion

So no kryptonians, aliens or supernatural beings just superpowered individuals trying to live their lives, I won't promise a superman in the future but for now it's very much unlikely]